Forest Gump

Forest Gump

           In the movie 'Forest Gump' several big points in history are depicted. One of them being desegregation of University of Alabama. In the movie Forest comes across a big commotion on University of Alabama. This event is the desegregation of his school. The National Gaurd was needed for this to happen as University of Alabama was in the Deep South. The main opponent to desgregation was George Wallace. He was governor of Alabama during the time and his famous quote was "Segregation today. segregation tomorrow. segregation forever!" George Wallace then decided to run for Presidemt. He had a very loyal supporting group in the South. While running, he was almost killed. Someone attempted an assassination on his life, but only paralyzed him, he then pulled out of running for President. Another reference to history we see is Elvis Presely. Elvis stayed at forests house and while their, Forest danced to his music. During this time in his life Forest wore braces and danced by moving his hips. Elvis completely changed much of the modern culture. Swinging hips and dancing like that was completely unheard of and 'Forest Gump' documented this revolution.
            One of the biggest themes in this movie is the contrast between different populations in the U.S. during the 70's. Forrest Gump represents the majority of Americans. He was a straight-laced soldier who fought in the Vietnam War. When he returned he found a job. Meanwhile, Jenny represents the counter culture during this time period. After going off to college, Jenny finds her way to California and becomes a hippy. Hippies was not very common during this time period. They were known for experimenting with psychedelic drugs. This idea lead into the disco age with even more drugs including cocaine. It was this group of people who were at a greater risk of contracting the new and scary AIDS virus, which Jenny ultimately died from.
           Forest Gump was portrayed as the average American but his life was anything but average. Forest was involved in many pivotal parts of American and world history. Tom Hanks did a great job of playing the dumb kid from Alabama turned into a star football player, war hero, ping pong player, and philanthropist. This was one of Tom Hanks' first movies that was a huge hit, and he played a big part in it. While recovering from his famous injury when something "jumped up and bit" him, he picked up ping pong. Forest eventually made it on the American ping pong team and was involved in ping pong diplomacy in which relations between China and the rest of the world were opened, especially the U.S. Forest is portrayed as the person who, with the help of dumb luck, caught President Nixon's men breaking into national Democrat headquarters. This ultimately lead to the resignation of Nixon as President, the only person in American history to do so.
            I loved this movie, and so did many others. It won 6 Oscars including the prestigious best picture award. Tom Hanks did an excellent job of playing dumber-than-a-rock Forest Gump. My favorite part about the movie was how much American History was tied in. References to many important people and events in American History were made such as the founder of the KKK and the integration of southern schools. Somehow Forest was involved in all of these events. This is one of my favorite movies, and I'd give it a 10 out of 10.